[radz28]

I thought a brief update on the new Houston House of Power (HHP) T93 TCM-Conversion might be helpful for us with the T93. My goal was to try to see if Torque Management Advance (TMA) was kicking my @$$ and to try to optimize my tranny tune. I can say that I'm pretty sure this was the cause of my TMA, and I have the car pretty much as perfect as I was hoping. There's room for improvement, but my hobby's been tuning, so it will never really be perfect. For transparency - I've had some help from guys like Joshinator' and King', so thanks to them, and have had direct help from someone else, who is not a Sponsor, so I won't mention them in public (I don't want to give the impression I'm a calibrator or expert or anything). Nothing I've really done has been outside of what I've found in our Community, or what's over on HPTuners. With that context out of the way...:

DO IT. That is all.

Yeah - Bye bye warranty. Once you can take that leap, I think this is a no-brainer. The OEM-tune seems to hold the car back at stock power in some instances, so adding more, without unlocking the TCM, is only going to get you so far under some circumstances.

I'd learned that more than 1st gear has torque limits, and I spent damn-near a year-and-a-half unknowingly tuning around it. I think a lot of people know 1st gear limits torque, but those that haven't seen a TCM-tune don't know that 3rd gear limits power, too. I didn't know this until somewhat recently, and after I upgraded to the new TCM, I see what I was holding me back. It's fun to have an excuse to Hoon' a little bit, but it was frustrating after a while, and I didn't fix it until this TCM. Maybe you can cheat a little and not tune VVE/VTT, but I didn't want to cheat, and I think these aspects are what caused conflict within my tune, and then made the TCM intervein by limiting torque.

Long story short (I know - not my typical commentary) - if you're looking for unlock the full potential of the A10 and your tune (even a stock-type), and if you were looking for a way to tune, this HHP-upgrade, IMO, is a great way to go. The process was stupid easy (I didn't believe it, but I was wrong), and as long as you plug the connector on correctly (unlike I did initially), you'll be off a tuning the A10 in no time. DO IT.

[Joshinator99]

Nice work @radz28! Hopefully your experience will help people feel more comfortable getting that done on T93-equipped cars.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by radz28

I thought a brief update on the new Houston House of Power (HHP) T93 TCM-Conversion might be helpful for us with the T93. My goal was to try to see if Torque Management Advance (TMA) was kicking my @$$ and to try to optimize my tranny tune. I can say that I'm pretty sure this was the cause of my TMA, and I have the car pretty much as perfect as I was hoping. There's room for improvement, but my hobby's been tuning, so it will never really be perfect. For transparency - I've had some help from guys like Joshinator and King', so thanks to them, and have had direct help from someone else, who is not a Sponsor, so I won't mention them in public (I don't want to give the impression I'm a calibrator or expert or anything). Nothing I've really done has been outside of what I've found in our Community, or what's over on HPTuners. With that context out of the way...:

DO IT. That is all.

Yeah - Bye bye warranty. Once you can take that leap, I think this is a no-brainer. The OEM-tune seems to hold the car back at stock power in some instances, so adding more, without unlocking the TCM, is only going to get you so far under some circumstances.

I'd learned that more than 1st gear has torque limits, and I spent damn-near a year-and-a-half unknowingly tuning around it. I think a lot of people know 1st gear limits torque, but those that haven't seen a TCM-tune don't know that 3rd gear limits power, too. I didn't know this until somewhat recently, and after I upgraded to the new TCM, I see what I was holding me back. It's fun to have an excuse to Hoon' a little bit, but it was frustrating after a while, and I didn't fix it until this TCM. Maybe you can cheat a little and not tune VVE/VTT, but I didn't want to cheat, and I think these aspects are what caused conflict within my tune, and then made the TCM intervein by limiting torque.

Long story short (I know - not my typical commentary) - if you're looking for unlock the full potential of the A10 and your tune (even a stock-type), and if you were looking for a way to tune, this HHP-upgrade, IMO, is a great way to go. The process was stupid easy (I didn't believe it, but I was wrong), and as long as you plug the connector on correctly (unlike I did initially), you'll be off a tuning the A10 in no time. DO IT.

I've been driving mine for a few months now w/o issue, but it needs an updated tune. Of course the strip is closed so I can't get started with launches until March.

[DangerZL1]

Thanks radz. Sounds like your time and patience is paying off.

Can you briefly describe some of the improvements in driveability or responsiveness you're seeing?

[radz28]

Originally Posted by DangerZL1

Thanks radz. Sounds like your time and patience is paying off.

Can you briefly describe some of the improvements in driveability or responsiveness you're seeing?

I'll see if I can articulate:

I'm a bit old-school I think. Even though I missed the muscle car era by maybe 10-years. I've appreciated the era since before I was ten. I've read many a Hot Rod, Car Craft, etc. I even have an original ZL1 engine article I love reading. Anyways...

1. Firmer/quicker shifts
2. Elimination of as much TMA as you like
3. Optimize to my preferences
4. Raise shift points
5. Differentiate Drive Modes a little more
6. Second gear start
7. Optimizing roll racing-shifting (TUTD settings)
8. Torque reduction by gear (enhancing traction control some, perhaps)

For more comments if you're interested

I like the transmission to shift harder as I drive harder. While stock, it does this to an extent, I'm the kind of person who probably wouldn't mind it barking the tires on a WOT-shift. I recognize that's not desirable around a course, but I'm more strip than track, so I lean my tuning a little that way. I might swing more neutral later, but that's one of the traits of this swap that I can have more influence over. I want crisp/quick shifts - but I don't want them all the time. I'm starting to see how to make the "improvements" I like, and it's fun.

The biggest benefit for me was getting TMA reduced. I still have it in there, but I've cut it back on shifts. I spent a-year-and-a-half banging my head against what I eventually thought was TMA kicking in, and I'm pretty sure I've confirmed that. That was HUGE to me. I was "raping" my VTT so I wouldn't get any spark retard on the 2-3-shift, and now it's all gone with good torque values in the VTT-tables. I'm VVE-tune, too, so that plays a role. I wouldn't claim they're perfect, but I can say the car drives like it should now, rather than the canned tune I had to start with. That had all the torque limiters in it, and it was REALLY holding the car back.

Raising shift points is great. The OEM-file shows the transmission isn't programmed to shift at redline each gear. Access to this feature gives options to do that now. I've also extended each shift a couple hundred RPMs, too. Extending the power a little more is nice.

2nd-Gear start could be nice after a certain point. I don't think I need it now, power-wise, but perhaps after a certain level, that super-short first gear will hamper times more than benefit, and starting in 2nd will yield a faster time and less tire spin.

I still have lots to play with and much more to learn. I'm taking baby steps. I'm delving into torque converter customization and that one will probably take the most, because I've done that the least in my tuning. I've played on an '05 H2 that I swapped a 408/LS3-hybid into, and I played with the 4L65 in that a bit. I've played with my '16 Turbo Sonic, too, which is a little fun. I don't want to burn-up the converter, though, so I just want to make sure it's not slipping and that it's getting the pressure it needs to hold the torque.

[DangerZL1]

Thanks for the review. You've obviously worked passionately to unlock the secrets of the TCM and it's paying off.

[dmcmahan60]

Great information and thanks for posting

[KingLT1]

Good write up! The stock A10 tune is pretty decent but as you have found there is still a bit of room for improvement. My biggest gripe is that it limits throttle in specific gears...GM should of allowed the ability to disable that when turning off all nannies or by mode selector. Most have no clue they are not getting full advertised torque through some of the gears.

[clg82]

Subscribed....this guy is making me spend way too much money

[JSH]

Originally Posted by radz28

2nd-Gear start could be nice after a certain point.

I bought the tunable TCM and after 3 months I can already see that it's every bit the journey of ECM tuning.

My two top priorities were a 2nd gear launch with 1.40 60 ft. in mind, WOT in all gears, and making all shifts at WOT while in manual mode. And of course there's torque mgt. and other issues that will be addressed this season.

[clg82]

Originally Posted by JSH

I bought the tunable TCM and after 3 months I can already see that it's every bit the journey of ECM tuning.

My two top priorities were a 2nd gear launch with 1.40 60 ft. in mind, WOT in all gears, and making all shifts at WOT while in manual mode. And of course there's torque mgt. and other issues that will be addressed this season.

I contacted vengence and they said i would need to purchase the new t93 TCM thru HHP and they could help me out with the tuning side is that how you went about doing and getting yours?

[radz28]

I still think it's worth while. It will take a lot longer if you don't really know what you're doing. I dabbled in a little Gen III tuning, but even with that, the way all these computers communicate within the car makes it a lot more involving.

[JSH]

Yea, so you contact HHP via email and describe your car and VIN #. I believe I paid via electronic invoice.

The 87a comes with a base calibration, same as all the other unlocked T87A’s for 10 speeds that HP Tuners does.

I wouldn’t call it plug and play, because tune adjustments are also absolutely required in the ECM in order for it to work correctly. The instructions are listed on the invoice.

Swapping the T87a for the stock T93 takes an hour or two.

If you've got HPT, you can make the edits yourself if you know what you're doing. HHP will work with you on a custom TCM tune for ~$900, which seems like around 8 hours work. I'm working remotely with Brian at Dinosaur Juice Tuning.

Originally Posted by clg82

I contacted vengence and they said i would need to purchase the new t93 TCM thru HHP and they could help me out with the tuning side is that how you went about doing and getting yours?

[clg82]

Originally Posted by JSH

Yea, so you contact HHP via email. Describe your car and VIN #. I believe I paid via electronic invoice.

It comes with a base calibration, same as all the other unlocked T87A’s for 10 speeds that HP Tuners does.

I wouldn’t call it plug and play because tune adjustments are absolutely required in the ECM in order for it to work correctly. The instructions listed on the invoice.

Swapping them out takes an hour or two.

If you've got HPT, you can make the edits yourself. HHP will sell you a custom TCM tune, but I'm working remotely with Brian at Dinosaur Juice Tuning.

So the actual ECM needs to be tuned for the tuning to be accomplished on the TCM?